Oleana - Cambridge

This restaurant was recommended to me by a friend whose son studied in Boston recently and I hadn't been there in many years. I am very grateful that she did because this is what all dining experiences should be like. Despite the late reservation (9:15pm is a late dinner for me), the ambience, the food, and the service were all exceptional. The small plates allowed us to sample a variety of menu items, each one trying to surpass the other and the whole just being an amazing culinary journey. The service was very attentive, with every member of the wait staff ever at the ready with refills of water, asking if we had questions, etc. I won't mention the dishes we tried because just try as many as you can and you'll end the evening/night completely satisfied.

Sat at the bar for a quick dinner after work. Food was as expected great with multiple options for gluten free. The char was the star for sure. Service was very good, but bogged down by a single diner who needed every menu item explained and wine chosen bummer for us as we were a in a bit of a hurry and said so. Great room, great people. Go for the food! Parking: You can park across the street, but it's not clear that's the case

We originally made a reservation at Sarma for Sunday at 8 pm. 10 minutes after being seated the power went out and the restaurant filled with smoke. The manager came by and gave us his card and apologized and asked us to leave because the restaurant was closing for the night. He offered to make us a priority for a re reservation but that didn't work for us because I had guests in town and specifically made special effort to make this reservation for them a month in advance. I had the idea to go to Oleana, their sister restaurant, who did manage to squeeze us a tiny corner and feed us about 1.5 hours later. However at that point, we were tired and frustrated and hangry and so needed the food to be stunning and it was just... decent. The standouts were the topik and the fatteh. The red pepper dumplings were good but I thought were missing some spice (flavor or heat . They'd sold out of the striped bass at this point which was disappointing (annoyance after annoyance this night! The lamb shish was decent but a little salty and pilaf was so basic I thought I could make it at home. The sultan's delight was a little too salty but the eggplant puree was very good. And finally the zaatar chicken was good but nothing to rave about. The chocolate sarma was good but not balanced enough for me a little too heavy and the ice cream didn't cut through the caramel enough. I'm still frustrated that neither Sarma nor Oleana did anything solid to apologize for the bad Sarma experience. Maybe I'm spoiled by other cities but for example after a longer wait than usual, I've been offered a free appetizer with an apology. Oleana did nothing more but I am grateful they squeezed us in at least. I'm no longer interested in trying Sarma and Oleana was just ok so I'll just avoid both restaurants frankly. I should say our server Mari (sp? was very nice and attentive. Because they didn't have enough room for us, they squished us in this tiny corner. I know I should be glad they found us a table at all I guess but it was just so small. They did offer to change us later which was nice but at that point it's kind of too late when you've started eating. TLDR: don't eat at Sarma. Oleana is good but not the standout I was hoping for.

Interesting and diverse food. Reservation is needed in advance. A diverse set of Mezeh is available there.

I’ve lived in the Boston area for six years and am having a hard time thinking of a better restaurant than Oleana.